SR 01-25-2022 3E
City Council Report
City Council Meeting: January 25, 2022
Agenda Item: 3.E
1 of 4
To: Mayor and City Council
From: David White, City Manager, City Manager's Office
Subject: Authorization of Contract with Mani Zadeh dba Los Angeles COVID Testing
Corporation for COVID Testing and Associated Services for City Employees
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute an agreement with Mani Zadeh dba Los Angeles COVID Testing Corporation
for city-wide, employee COVID testing. This recommended award is made as an
exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to SMMC sections 2.24.250 (i)
and 2.24.240, and is for a total amount not to exceed $1,000,000 with future year
funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Summary
On August 24, 2021, Santa Monica City Council approved a vaccine mandate for all
City employees and members of City Boards and Commissions. This mandate includes
the ability for City employees to seek an exemption to the mandate for legitimate
medical or religion reasons. Exempt employees are required to undergo weekly
COVID-19 testing in order to report for work. Additionally, in alignment with CalOSHA
and Los Angeles Department of Public Health orders, persons who are present within a
facility where a COVID-19 outbreak is detected, shall be provided an opportunity to
conduct testing on-site and at no cost to the employee.
The City sought the services of Mani Zadeh dba Los Angeles COVID Testing
Corporation (LA COVID Testing Corp.) on an emergency basis to provide this testing.
LA COVID Testing Corp. is used by other cities in Los Angeles County and provides
needed testing services within the short timeline required by the City. Staff now seeks
3.E
Packet Pg. 53
2 of 4
authority to enter into a contract with LA COVID Testing Corp. to provide these ongoing
services for an amount not to exceed $1,000,000 for one year. Staff will seek
reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) for all
qualifying costs associated with this service.
Discussion
Like many other corporations and public agencies, the City of Santa Monica instituted a
vaccine mandate for all City employees and members of City Boards and Commissions.
The City instituted this mandate to ensure continuity of vital City services as well as
enhance public trust that accessing such services will be safe. The City’s vaccine
mandate required employees to show proof of full vaccination or have an approved,
qualifying exemption by October 29, 2021.
Under the City’s vaccine mandate policy, all employees who are granted an exemption
for a legitimate medical or religious reason must undergo weekly COVID-19 testing in
order to report to work. To facilitate this testing, staff sought the services of LA COVID
Testing Corp., which has provided testing for other cities and public agencies in the
area. LA COVID Testing Corp. provides administration, processing, and reporting of
tests administered by registered nursing staff to the employee, Safety Officer, Human
Resources, and the selected Emergency Operations Center staff to assist with contact
tracing. LA COVID Testing will provide on-site testing and laboratory processing for
personnel who have been exposed to the COVID-19 virus through the course of their
work or have an approved exemption from the COVID-19 Vaccine Policy. The City
further requires the vendor to complete a COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
test, as this has been defined as the most accurate and effective test available.
Due to the expedited timeline and health and safety concerns, staff was unable to follow
the traditional competitive solication process; however, staff did conduct an informal
cost assessment with five qualified vendors within the region and were able to negotiate
pricing with the selected vendor. Staff now seeks Council authority to enter into a
contract with LA COVID Testing Corp. as well as for Council to exempt this procurement
3.E
Packet Pg. 54
3 of 4
from the City’s competitive process due to the urgency of the service to keep the City’s
workplace and public services safe.
LA COVID Testing Corp. provides COVID-19 testing at several times and at different
City locations each week. The City has approximately 220 employees who have sought
and were granted exemptions. The cost for these services from November 1, 2021 to
date is approximately $130,000 and it is anticipated that the $1,000,000 authority will
provide testing services through the end of the fiscal year. The City remains eligible for
reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) for
qualifying expenses associated with our emergency response to COVID. FEMA is
currently reimbursing 100 percent of eligible costs through April 2022, and this may be
extended given the current case surge driven by the Omicron variant.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the General Fund to award a contract with
LA COVID Testing Corp. for COVID-19 testing and related services for City employees
for one year.
Contract
FY 2021-22 Department/CIP Account # Total Contract Amount
$1,000,000 01800004.525260 $1,000,000
Staff will continue to track all eligible costs associated with this project and seek
reimbursement from FEMA for as long as allowed. All reimbursements received from
FEMA will reimburse the City’s General Fund. Staff will submit project applications to
FEMA for reimbursement; however, due to processing delays at the agency,
reimbursement funds may be received by the City in later fiscal periods.
3.E
Packet Pg. 55
4 of 4
Prepared By: David White, City Manager
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. LACT_OaksInitiative_Signed
B. Written Comments
3.E
Packet Pg. 56
3.E.a
Packet Pg. 57 Attachment: LACT_OaksInitiative_Signed (4915 : Contract with LA Covid Testing Corp)
1
Vernice Hankins
From:Ann Maggio <annmaggio@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, January 24, 2022 1:32 PM
To:councilmtgitems; Sue Himmelrich; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Kristin
McCowan; David White
Subject:Agenda Item -
EXTERNAL
Dear City Council,
There should be little difficulty deciding what to do about this million dollar contract - a contract for weekly
testing intended for 220 people. Because they are unvaccinated.
Because these 220 employees do what?
Transmit the virus at a higher rate than those who complied with your EUA mandate?
FALSE Narrative
If you choose to claim you don't know better you should each be personally sued for your ignorance.
Fauci had to come clean with the fact that regardless of vaccination status, anyone can transmit covid
19. Here he is stating so in July 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP9iHyj1uiU
Add to the overcrowding of hospitals? FALSE Narrative
At the January 11th Senate Hearing CDC's Walensky testified:
"she has heard from hospitals around the country that “they had plenty of beds, but they didn’t have
staff to staff them” and that preventing closures of schools and pharmacies were other top priorities."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/decoding-what-biden-health-officials-told-congress-about-
omicron/ar-AASFZlX
Testing anyone at this stage is nothing more than A BIG waste of time and
money! Leave the FEMA Million for the next Natural Disaster.
As of the week ending January 15, 2022 the HHS data shows that Omicron is
the strain in 99.6% of all cases in the WEST. (SEE BAR GRAPH)
What this means is that fully vaccinated people who tested positive in LA County for the week ending Jan 18th
were 906% less likely to catch the DELTA variant from Jan 12-18 than they were the previous week. In fact, of
the 138,185 confirmed
cases of Covid 19 in fully vaccinated people in the county that week, only five people may have caught the
Delta variant. (SEE Yellow Slide and accompanying sources)
On January 8, 2021, the CDC's Interim Director, Walensky, said that 3/4 of all Covid deaths occurred in people
with 4 or more comorbidities. Here is the time stamped link to that comment: https://youtu.be/Pa7N-
iNkaUE?t=13
Item 3.E 1/25/22
1 of 5 Item 3.E 1/25/22
3.E.b
Packet Pg. 58 Attachment: Written Comments (4915 : Contract with LA Covid Testing Corp)
2
Item 3.E 1/25/22
2 of 5 Item 3.E 1/25/22
3.E.b
Packet Pg. 59 Attachment: Written Comments (4915 : Contract with LA Covid Testing Corp)
3
The majority of people testing positive in LA County are fully vaccinated.
According to the LACPHD, a total of 6,506,443* country residents had taken at
least
one shot of the J & J or two of either the Moderna or Pfizer shots.
(*"Cumulative Post‐Vaccination Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths by Report Date" HERE:
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/data/reopening‐dashboard.htm)
Source Links:
"Cumulative Post-Vaccination Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths by Report
Date" HERE: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/data/reopening-dashboard.htm
LACDPH Press Releases Jan 12-18, 2022
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/phcommon/public/media/mediapubdisplay.cfm?unit=media&ou=ph&prog=me
dia
Fauci, on December 29th, told the public that asymptomatic people do not need to test post 5 day
isolation period.
He also talks about what the tests can and cannot
do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAICMQ1D5F8 ( @ 2:28)
Learn a LESSON from the POP UP LABS contracted by the SMMUSD, whose turnaround times
have been just as long or longer than the LACDPH's isolation period (5 days plus one) for
students and staff.
Samohi, Roosevelt, Webster, and more Week ending Friday, January 7. (first week back to
school)
Webster - week ending Jan 21, 2022 results came 5 days after kids were tested.
Item 3.E 1/25/22
3 of 5 Item 3.E 1/25/22
3.E.b
Packet Pg. 60 Attachment: Written Comments (4915 : Contract with LA Covid Testing Corp)
4
$$$ ONE MILLION on Covid Testing Contract!
++6
Fauci - Dec 29, 2021 tries to explain why people who haven't been boosted are treated the same
way as unvaccinated people: https://youtu.be/bAICMQ1D5F8?t=275
...21 days later....
Fauci - Jan. 19, 2022 "Natural infection, with or without vaccination is good
protection" https://youtu.be/l39U_I2uEyo?t=86
COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations by COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Previous COVID-19
Diagnosis — California and New York, May–November 2021
Early Release / January 19, 2022 / 71
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7104e1.htm?s_cid=mm7104e1_w#contribAff
Natural immunity was more potent than vaccines during US Delta wave — study
But authors of paper warn against depending on infection, given the higher risks of hospitalization, long‐term
impacts and death
By AFP and TOI STAFF
21 January 2022, 9:43 am
"During America’s last surge of the coronavirus driven by the Delta variant, people who were unvaccinated but
had previously recovered from COVID‐19 were better protected than those who were vaccinated and not
previously infected, a new study said Wednesday.
The finding is the latest to weigh in on a debate on the relative strengths of natural versus vaccine‐acquired
immunity against SARS‐CoV‐2, but comes this time with the imprimatur of the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
The authors of the paper warned, however, against depending on infection as a strategy, given the higher risks to
unvaccinated persons who weren’t previously infected of hospitalization, long‐term impacts, and death, compared
to vaccinated people.
Indeed, by November 30, 2021, some 131,000 residents of California and New York had died from COVID‐19, the
two states the paper, which used statistical modeling, was based on.
“Viruses are constantly changing, including the virus that causes COVID‐19,” the CDC said in a statement.
“The level of protection offered by vaccination and surviving a previous infection changed during the study period.
Vaccination remains the safest strategy for protecting against COVID‐19,” it added.
The analysis was also carried out before the emergence of the Omicron variant, for which both vaccine and
infection‐derived immunity appear diminished, and before boosters were made widely available.
A nurse prepares vaccines in the Wizink Center, currently used for COVID‐19 vaccinations in Madrid, Dec. 1, 2021.
(AP Photo/Paul White)
It used case data from 1.1 million people who tested positive in New York and California between May 30 to
November 30, 2021, and used that to model inferences about the wider population.
Prior to Delta becoming dominant, vaccination conferred greater immunity than infection. But the relationship
shifted when the variant became predominant in late June and July.
By the week of October 3, vaccinated people who did not have prior COVID were three to four times (in
California and New York, respectively) more likely to be infected than unvaccinated people with prior COVID.
Item 3.E 1/25/22
4 of 5 Item 3.E 1/25/22
3.E.b
Packet Pg. 61 Attachment: Written Comments (4915 : Contract with LA Covid Testing Corp)
5
In the weeks of October 13 to November 14, vaccinated people who did not have prior COVID in California, were
around three times more likely to be hospitalized than unvaccinated people with prior COVID.
Protection was highest among those who had both vaccination and prior COVID.
The study could however be impacted by an effect known as “selection bias,” since it excluded people who died,
who were overwhelmingly unvaccinated.
Other research, including a notable paper from Israel in August, have also found that natural immunity was more
potent than vaccines during the Delta surge.
But the US CDC had previously taken the opposite position, based on pre‐Delta data.
“Further studies are needed to establish the duration of protection from previous infection by variant type,
severity, and symptomatology, including for the Omicron variant,” the paper concluded."
https://www.timesofisrael.com/natural‐immunity‐was‐more.../
Ann Maggio Thanawalla
"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." ‐ Albert Einstein
Item 3.E 1/25/22
5 of 5 Item 3.E 1/25/22
3.E.b
Packet Pg. 62 Attachment: Written Comments (4915 : Contract with LA Covid Testing Corp)